Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Hyper Intuition
It happened a month after Jae Woo had joined the dojo .
Jae Woo had definitely put on some weight during that one month . His once frail muscles were now much larger .
Thus, his sword swings began to let out a menacing sound .
"Want to spar?" Deok Bae asked .
The sound of his sword swings had changed, signaling that he'd become accustomed to the sword .
"Alright . "
There was no reason to refuse .
"Feel free to attack as much as you like . I'll just block . "
"Understood . "
The spar began . Jae Woo grabbed his blade and scanned Deok Bae .
Deok Bae lowered the tip of his blade towards the ground .
Surprisingly, his stance looked quite poor!
As he looked upon him, Jae Woo was hit by a strange feeling .
'It's happening again . '
He felt as though 'if I attack like this, it'll work' . He would often feel a hunch like this!
It wasn't the first time .
It started a few days prior . He could naturally feel the weaknesses or gaps amongst the swordsmen around him .
This time was no different .
If he struck at Deok Bae's side, then he felt he could hit him .
'Well, let's give it a go . '
Jae Woo aimed his training sword at Deok Bae's side .
Ddak .
Deok Bae easily deflected Jae Woo's sword with his own .
'As I thought . '
Deok Bae was a slightly surprised . For a newbie, Jae Woo's strike was quite sharp .
True, he'd assumed a poor posture that left an opening on his side, but Jae Woo had actually gone right for it .
'So he did block it . '
Jae Woo already knew his attack wouldn't work .
That intuition, which told him that his attack would work, vanished when Deok Bae swung his sword .
It was unfortunate, but he couldn't expect too much on his first try . Jae Woo moved onto his next strike .
'Top of the foot!'
Next, his intuition guided him towards the top of the foot and so, he swung his sword at the top of Deok Bae's left foot .
Deok Bae quickly retracted his foot . His eyes widened ever so slightly .
He didn't think a newbie would aim for his foot . And so, he'd almost been hit .
'His senses are great . Let's get a bit serious now, shall we?'
Deok Bae lined up his sword at the midline of his body . It was the most basic stance of Swordmaster .
'Mm . '
Jae Woo bit his lip . Once Deok Bae adjusted his stance, his intuition went silent .
With no other choice, Jae Woo struck like he was taught .
He repeatedly swung downwards, slashed, or thrust!
"Enough . "
Ultimately, Jae Woo was unsuccessful in hitting Deok Bae even once .
"You did well for a newbie . Now I'll be the one attacking, so do your best . "
"Yes sir . "
They switched roles and their spar began once more .
But strangely, Deok Bae's sword would aim for any area where Jae Woo felt a chill .
Ddak .
Thus, Jae Woo was able to fend off Deok Bae's attacks without much difficulty .
As Jae Woo repeatedly blocked his attacks, he found himself smiling .
'His senses really are good . Let's see how long you can hold out . '
Whenever Jae Woo either dodged or blocked his attacks, Deok Bae would increase the power and speed of his next attack .
Tak . Taahk . Tak . Tak! Tak!
Ultimately, Deok Bae's sword struck Jae Woo's right shoulder .
"Ugh . "
It was much too quick for Jae Woo to defend against .
"That's it for today . Good job . "
Deok Bae withdrew his sword .
"Thank you for all your hard work . "
Jae Woo bowed his head filled with regret .
'I could've blocked it . '
Because of that chilling sensation, Jae Woo knew where Deok Bae's sword would land .
Despite that, he hadn't blocked that last strike .
Though he knew where the strike was intended, his body couldn't follow up .
"Anyway . . . What's wrong with me?"
That strange feeling he felt during the match . . . how was he to understand it?"
Jae Woo was forced to think even harder on the subject .
Jae Woo felt that same intuition flare up whenever he fought against the other pupils too .
He would instantly ascertain his opponent's weaknesses and gaps in their defenses, and could sense any impending danger and block their strikes accordingly .
Thus, with this ability of his, he was able to defeat one of the pupils that had been learning here for more than half a year .
"Is it an . . . aftereffect?"
He'd never felt like this before the accident .
If that's the case, then this ability must've resulted due to the accident and his comatose-state .
'What exactly happened to my body?'
Jae Woo trudged home, locked in thought .
Then . . .
He felt a chill at the back of his head .
Jae Woo instinctually twisted his head to the side .
At that moment, a baseball flew past where his head once was .
"W-What was that!?"
Jae Woo was shocked, so he turned around . A man wearing gloves came rushing over to him .
"I'm sorry . Are you alright?"
"Ah, yes . "
"It wasn't intentional . We were playing catch, but I didn't catch the ball, so . . . the ball flew all the way over here . I'm really sorry about that . "
The man bowed his head .
"It's alright . Fortunately, I dodged it . "
The man apologized a few more times and went away to look for the ball .
Jae Woo rubbed the back of his head . That intuition, which flared up when the ball came flying at him! That chilling sensation!
'It's not just during a spar . It comes up in my daily life . I have to do some tests . '
If it warned of danger, not only during his spars, but in his daily life, then it would be really useful .
Jae Woo, who'd arrived home, brought Mina along to a vacant lot in the neighborhood .
"What!? What do you want?"
Her eyes were filled with discontent .
"Just take this without complaining . "
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He passed Mina a baseball . Of course, it wasn't a tough, rigid baseball . Since, on the off chance that he did get hit, it would hurt . So, he'd bought a soft, elastic baseball .
"What do you want me to do with this?"
"I'll be facing the other way, so try hitting me with that," Jae Woo said .
"What?"
Mina looked at him as if he were out of his mind .
"It's a training method that I learned at the dojo . Apparently, it's great for improving your senses . So just help me out a little . "
Jae Woo made up a story . She would look at him strangely if he said he wanted to test his ESP .
"Really? Ok, but I'm going to throw it hard," Mina said .
"No wait, it's my first time, so throw it softly . "
Jae Woo played it safe .
"Tch . "
Mina, looking disappointed, prepared herself to throw the ball . Jae Woo turned, facing the wall .
There was a 10m gap between them .
"I'm throwing it!"
And she threw .
The ball came flying behind him!
He felt a cold feeling on his butt .
Jae Woo twisted his body and felt that cold feeling disappear . Then, the ball struck the wall .
"Wow . "
Mina was astonished .
'He really did dodge it . '
She looked at Jae Woo, as if he were a bizarre animal of some sort .
And she refused to give up .
'I'll hit you no matter what!'
"I'm throwing it again!"
Mina raised her leg like a professional baseball player .
She threw with all her strength!
Jae Woo dodged!
Again, she threw with all her strength!
And he succeeded once more!
Third . . . fourth . . . !
She didn't manage to hit him even once .
'It's already been 5 months since then . '
Jae Woo had decided to call this ability 'Hyper Intuition' .
It would instinctively direct him to his opponent's weaknesses and/or warn of his danger!
It was because of this Hyper Intuition that he hadn't gone to the hospital .
He was tired of hospitals, and if he told them about his new ability, they'd either write him off as a madman or he'd receive psychological counseling .
In any case, half a year had already passed since he'd been learning at Swordmaster!
His body was trained and he had become familiar with both combat experience and his own intuition .
It was time to go back home .
To games!
The worldwide top virtual reality game, Arth, was waiting for him .
"From now on, I'll be coming to the dojo on the weekends only," Jae Woo told Deok Bae .
"Why?"
"I have to work . Money doesn't just grow on trees . "
"What kind of work?"
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"Games, obviously . "
All this time, he'd trained with Deok Bae and had talked quite a lot with him .
So, Deok Bae knew that Jae Woo was previously a pro-gamer .
"A game, huh . . . How about becoming an instructor here?" Deok Bae offered .
To him, there was no better sparring partner than Jae Woo .
And instructors were guaranteed a salary . It was much safer than playing a game for a living .
Of course, only Deok Bae thought that .
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline . "
He didn't say what he really thought, which was 'it doesn't make enough money' .
"Well, come by on the weekends when you can . "
"I will . "
Jae Woo nodded his head .
If he wanted to maintain his trained body, then he'd need to come to the dojo periodically to train .
"And do well in your game . No, you'll probably do well . Since it's you we're talking about . "
Deok Bae had never met someone as relentless as Jae Woo .
"I'll come by later . "
"Alright . See you on the weekends . "
Jae Woo left the dojo .
A new beginning was awaiting him .
* * *
Come morning, Jae Woo snapped open his eyes .
'It's finally time!'
It was the day he became a pro-gamer again .
His pro-gamer blood, which had endured for so long, began to boil .
"But first, I have to get some things done . "
Jae Woo left his house to exercise .
True, he planned to play Arth, but he had no intention of ignoring his training .
"Hoo . Hooeup . "
He ran around the neighborhood once, did some light stretching and trained his muscles . Once he was done, he went back to his house and ate breakfast .
And when he was done eating, he left once more .
How much time had gone by?
Jae Woo returned home .
"Where did you go?" Mina, who had been watching TV in the living room, asked .
"I went to get scanned . "
Arth encouraged its players to do so . The process would scan the player's body and give them detailed data on that person, and then used that to create their characters .
In other words, it allowed him to create a duplicate of himself in-game .
"Did you buy ice cream?"
Mina could care less what a scan was . She was just craving something sweet and refreshing .
"What ice cream?"
"Really? It's so hot today, yet you didn't get any ice cream?" Mina criticized .
"If you want ice cream, then go out and buy it yourself," Jae Woo said .
"This is why you don't have a girlfriend . "
Mina clicked her tongue .
"Then why don't you introduce me to someone?"
"No thanks . I'm not crazy . "
Mina frowned .
"Then stop worrying about your brother's love life and go into your room . "
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"Why?"
"I start working today, so I'm going to need the living room . "
"I don't wanna . I'm watching TV," Mina said .
Jae Woo widened his eyes and said, "Wanna die?"
Mina's eyes widened just as much .
"You're hiding your report card in Yura's room . . . "
Ultimately, Jae Woo played his trump card .
"Ah, crap . Fine, I'm going, alright!?"
Mina flipped him off and went off to her room in a flash .
"That girl!"
It'd already been a half a year since he had awoken from his coma .
It was enough time for Mina, who'd acted like a sweet angel worrying over her brother, to quit her act .
Of course, her attitude lowered how thankful he was for nursing him for 2 years .
They'd just returned to their relaxing sibling relationship .
"Jeut . "
Jae Woo clicked his tongue and extracted a data chip from his pocket, which contained all of the scanned data .
He inserted the black data chip into the side slot of his goggles and then wore them over his head .
Jae Woo flipped the power switch .
Accessing virtual reality!
A white corridor appeared before him .
There were two doors within the corridor . Warlord's door, with a sign posted, explaining its termination of service .
And . . .
"Arth . . . "
A door adorned with a beautiful silver pattern .
Black smoke rose from the center of the door and the word 'ARTH' was written in the center .
"Shall we go?"
Jae Woo sounded completely thrilled .
Once he opened the door, he was enthusiastically welcomed by a rainbow of lights .
He took a deep breath to calm himself down and forcefully took a step forward .
Jae Woo passed through the door and began creating his new character .
[Scanned data exists . Would you like to create your character via your scanned data?]
"Create . "
[Creation complete . Would you like to change any details like hairstyle, tattoos, or color?]
"Nope . "
[Please set your character's name . ]
"Kang Oh . "
A strong older brother .
Abbreviated: Kang Oh .
That same Kang Oh, who was called a human dragon in Warlord .
[You may select your starting location . You may also be placed randomly . ]
"Altein . "
Altein was Arth's largest city .
After all, big fish like him needed to play in a big pond!
[Please enjoy the game . ]
"Yeah . "
The bright light shrouded Kang Oh .
That was the moment where Warlord's legendary ranker, the human dragon Kang Oh, had returned to the virtual world .
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